§42. SOME OF OUR MONUMENTS. 243 



support being a paradox ; and for those of greater preten- 

 sions good models are offered by the grand monuments of 

 the Scaligeri, and the Norman kings of Sicily at Palermo, as 

 by other tombs in some of our own and foreign churches. 



How much better are the canopied tombs, or the simple 

 figure lying on the lid of the sarcophagus, than our fanciful 

 monuments, sometimes with ghastly skeletons ; or with pon- 

 derous clouds in marble, forming part of the composition; 

 sometimes with a background consisting of a slice of black 

 marble, half pyramid half obelisk, adhering to the wall ; and 

 frequently overloaded with vases, amorini, wreaths, and 

 Pagan emblems. These are unworthy of being called de- 

 signs. Nor are we more fortunate in our adoption of an 

 obelisk for a monument ; whether it be a memento of the 

 dead, or in commemoration of some event. We attach no 

 idea to it ; we do not even comprehend its real shape, its true 

 proportions, or its use ; we flatten and spoil its most beautiful 

 part, the apex ; and the selection of an obelisk for such pur- 

 poses shows great want of taste, and poverty of invention. 

 It is much on a par with the erection of a pagoda as an 

 English monument ; it is a borrowed form, badly chosen, and 

 totally unmeaning. 



42. Perhaps while speaking of obelisks I may be permitted 

 to introduce some remarks I have had occasion to make on 

 that subject. " It has been recommended that obelisks should 

 be adopted in this country for ornamental purposes, and the 

 fact of our possessing granite quarries of sufficient size to 

 furnish obelisks larger even (if required) than any erected in 

 Egypt, has been set forth to show that there is no objection 

 to their use from the deficiency of proper materials. But it 

 may be asked what idea we associate with an obelisk, and 

 what is our plea for adopting it as a monument. AVe have no 

 feeling, no association connected with it; the Egyptians had 

 a reason for its invention and for its employment ; and cer- 

 tainly, j udging from the position and treatment of obelisks, 



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